The Siege Continues...

Ugh...I'm starting to go a little stir crazy. It's snowed even more today. There's no end to this .... I'm never getting out of this apartment. Ok, actually, it's a like a mini-vacation watching favorite moves, lazing in my pj's and making great late breakfasts. But, this place is only so big and I am getting a little restless. God, I hope this breaks soon...

Cabin Fever

Ok, I have the most advanced case of Cabin Fever ever! Because of the weather, I've been stuck in my apartment for a week and a half; I only made it into work three days last week. I decided to make the best of it and tackle something I've put off for a long while: a multi-layered cake. They look so easy to make on the TV, but when I actually try to rally and make one, I get intimidated and decided to make something else. Well, I had nothing but time and decided to challenge myself to make one. Here are some pictures of my first attempt:

The cakes cooling...

Making the chocolate icing...

Ta da!!! It was delicious >:-)

Anyway, fast forward to this morning, this is what I woke up to. My car is frozen to the street...


It snowed seven inches yesterday, then we had freezing rain all last night. So Portland is like whole city-sized creme brulee, seven inches of fluff covered with an inch of crunchy crust. All the plants and trees are covered with an even layer of ice...





My front porch. Crunch, sink, crunch, sink is what my footsteps sounded like as I walked around taking pictures.

My New Little Yellow House

This is the new house I will be renting in Silverton!!

Honey Do's...oh, wait..that's me..

Ok, so being snowed-in has given me cabin fever. I decided to do all the little "honey-do's" that I've been putting off. Damn. Every time I use Super-Glue, this is what goes through my head: "ok, I'm just going to be very careful with it. I'm only going to hold on to the tube and I'm NOT going to get my fingers in the way". So, after firmly giving myself a Super-Glue pep talk, carefully removing the cap and positioning the tube, I successfully glued my fingers together...

Sigh...

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Well, I don't have too many pictures of Thanksgiving, I was busy cooking all day, but I did manage to get the odd few. I remember helping Mommom make mincemeat tarts when I was little; it was one of the first things she let me do in the kitchen. She showed me how to roll out the dough and how to carefully cut each circle. My job was to fill the cups with the mincemeat, not too much, not too little. I hadn't had them in years so when I found the mincemeat in Mom's cupboard, I decided it was time. They were as good as I remembered...

I got this cabinet from Flo when she moved out of her apartment and decided to paint it while I was up at the house. Dad and I worked on it in between kitchen logistics; another father-daughter project! It turned out beautifully..



Someone must have found my camera after I went to bed, because I don't remember taking these photos :-) These are the projects Emma completed while at the house. Pretty good for not following a pattern, huh?

More Victoria Pics

Here are some more pictures I took in Victoria B.C. on my birthday trip that I haven't had time to post until now. The new job has been keeping me occupied :-)

Here we are at the Butchart Gardens. This is the "Sunken Garden" that was made out of the quarry...


Mom and Dad lolly-gagged and got separated from the group...

Hydrangea...

This fountain also does shows set to music on busy days. Since it was the off season, we almost had the whole garden to ourselves...

Sigh...I wonder how many kisses it would take to turn this into a prince..

Violas....


The Japanese Garden...

There's a spot in the Japanese Garden where you can go down to the bay, sit on the picnic bench, and chill, but we had reservations for tea, so onward we went!

Neil on the way back toward the tea house...

Later that night, we cracked out the dominos and here is Jan explaining the rules of Mexican Train!!

First Day on the Job, Version #3

I'm tackling yet another "First Day" on the job and already, this one is going much better than the last. They are actually taking me out to lunch today and have made up a schedule for me for the next two weeks. I've already been around to all the offices and been introduced as well as had a meeting with the Safety Manager (they actually have one here) who gave me a shoe voucher! Next is lunch with the QA team, then a Quality Systems Orientation with the QA Manager. It's all very structured and layed out. Just the way I like it....

Bah Humbug!

Another excerpt from the much-wise Fatted Calf Newsletter:

Take Back The Holidays

I used to love the holidays and then I grew up, moved to the Bay Area and took a third job working retail during the holiday season. If you.ve ever stood on the other side of the counter, with the same twenty five festive songs playing in an endless loop watching what looks like a relatively normal person burst into tears because the (insert popular trendy item here) has been backordered until January you start wondering where humanity has gone wrong. How did you wind up on the stage of this ancient tragedy where each of the players has been touched by a strange form of madness?

But it doesn't have to be like that and I was thinking of starting a new campaign called Take Back The Holidays. I began rethinking my relationship to the month of December a few years ago while chatting with a friend in Germany. She told me that the Christmas celebration with her new family consisted mainly of relaxing, talking and playing board games and later eating a big platter of sausage and potatoes. "A special sausage?" I asked. "No" she replied "the same kind of wursts we always eat."

While I would love to flee to a foreign country I find myself standing once again on the other side of the counter this holiday season. For my own sanity I avoid the mall and the grocery store and try to limit my gifting to books and things I find at the Farmers Market (which makes me no child's favorite auntie). I try to plan my celebrations well in advance and keep the cooking fairly simple. I still have nightmares about losing a client's goose or running out of rillettes but once I don my apron I feel fairly confident I can deal with almost any holiday dilemma. And the next time I hear the pitch of a client's voice start to climb and the see the mist start to cloud their eyes I now have the ability to pour them a glass of wine, give them a bite to eat and let them know it's not the end of the world, just the end of the year. Take a deep breath and enjoy the holidays.

A-freaking-men!!!

Victoria BC or Bust!

We are on our way!!! Here we are at our Red Lion Hotel room in Port Angeles, making a quick overnight stop before catching the morning ferry to Victoria B.C. It was a busy day for all of us, but especially me since it had also been my last day at work. I drove to Silverton, worked until one, drove back to Portland to pack up, then drove to St. Helens to meet up with the parents, whom then made me drive to Port Angeles. It was like a 500 mile day for me, but I drove with a light heart, knowing I was going to have a good time!

Mom knitting to calm herself after a rather harrowing drive up 101...

Dad, Jan, and Neil already breaking out the tequila...


The next morning, the three of us were arguing over who was going to take the first shower when the fire alarm in the hotel went off, answering the question for us. Thankfully, we were already up, but I saw several more unfortunate people groggily wandering the halls, wondering what the hell was going on. I am proud to announce that the Andersen Family evacuation time, complete with all luggage, is under five minutes :-).

Anyway, here are some shots from the ferry as we were leaving Washington.



Second breakfast in the Victoria B.C. James' Bay Tea House. I had kippers and eggs- delicious!

While we were there, all of us had our handwriting analyzed by an expert. Apparently, my head and heart regularly battle for dominance....hmmm.....


After breakfast, we went to the natural history museum, which was pretty great. Unfortunately, we didn't get to see all of it, as they close early in the off-season, but what we did see was fantastic. As we left the museum, we saw that everyone in town had gathered on the streets for the local "Santa Claus" parade, which we got to see in it's entirety while shopping and walking to dinner.


A shot of the Parliament building at night...

Here we all are at dinner. We went all out and got the best thing on the menu- Crab, Lobster, Steak, Lamb, we wanted it all!!!



It was one of the best Birthdays ever, not to mention one of the best November's ever! I'm so thankful that I'm doing really well in such uncertain times. I plan to enjoy every minute of my new opportunity!

The Annie Leibovitz Lecture

I saw that she was coming to Portland two months ago and started looking for tickets every day after that, searching through Ticketmaster and posting wanted ads on Craigslist. I told Adrienne to keep that night open "just in case I got tickets" and, on Nov. 19th, someone off of Craigslist finally e-mailed me with available two balcony seats. Yay!

Here is a picture I took of Adrienne before we went in...

The inside of the Arlene Schitzer is incredible with plaster reliefs all on the walls and ceiling.



Once the lecture was over, the whole auditorium flocked to the sale table where Annie had signed 500 copies of her newest book. I had wisely snuck out during the last Q&A and got there first....
Leave it to me and Adrienne to take this kind of picture after listening to one of the greatest photographers of our time.....

Here I am outside the Schnitzer, new book in hand. Adrienne and I hopped the streetcar towards 23rd and stopped at Le Happy for crepes. We had a great time and were very grateful for this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to listen to Annie speak!